| 1 | Tatyana Samolenko-Dorovskikh | URS | |
8:35,82 | |
| 2 | Yelena Romanova | URS | |
8:36,06 | |
| 3 | Susan Sirma | KEN | |
8:39,41 | AR |
| 4 | Päivi Tikkanen | FIN | 8:41,30 | NR | |
| 5 | Margareta Keszeg | ROM | 8:42,02 | ||
| 6 | Roberta Brunet | ITA | 8:42,64 | ||
| 7 | Judi St.Hilaire | USA | 8:44,02 | ||
| 8 | Annette Peters | USA | 8:44,02 | ||
| 9 | Gitte Karlshøj | DEN | 8:44,35 | ||
| 10 | Yvonne Murray | GBR | 8:44,52 | ||
| 11 | Alison Wyeth | GBR | 8:44,73 | ||
| 12 | Pauline Konga | KEN | 8:46,66 | ||
| 13 | Lyudmila Borisova | URS | 8:51,49 | ||
| 14 | Shelly Steely | USA | 8:53,70 | ||
| 15 | Marie-Pierre Duros | FRA | 9:08,31 |